Coming Home Is Hard To Do
by twobluebearies
Summary: The Voyager crew finally reached earth, but now the real troubles begin. You could call it a J/C.
1. Chapter 1

_Captain's log, stardate 54975.4: It's our second day in orbit around earth. About an hour ago I was informed that the Voyager will stay in orbit for the next two weeks. That's how long our quarantine will last. I wonder how the crew will react to these news._

Janeway sat on her couch and watched the stars go by. Her ready-room was on the ship's side where the earth couldn't be seen. She was biting into a delicious Peanut Butter Sandwich and thinking about how she liked it, when the doors went open and Chakotay came in.

"Lunch?", he asked. "More of a late breakfast.", Kathryn answered. She smiled a little and Chakotay sat down next to her. "Did you hear something new from starfleet? Do we finally leave this vessel?" "Well, ehm, no. Starfleet has put us under quarantine for the next two weeks." The disappointment in Chakotay's face was clearly visible." Come on. Two weeks are almost nothing against the seven years in the delta-quadrant", the captain said, almost amused. "You're right, but I don't like sitting around and doing nothing at all."

After that, an odd little pause arose. Finally, the captain asked her commander: "Are you going to tell her today?" Both knew she was talking about Seven of Nine. " Yes I am. It will break her heart but I can't stand it anymore." Chakotay had played Seven's lover for about three weeks now and he thought that it really sucked. After hearing that Seven was dating an holographic version of Chakotay, Kathryn had one of her extraordinary ideas. For getting Seven out of her dream world, Chakotay should begin to date her. After a while, they could break up and Seven's problem were solved. At first it was hard to persuade Chakotay because he thought of himself as a bad actor. Kathryn then told him it were a good way to hide their relationship, so he found himself asking Seven out for dinner later that day.

OOO

"So we just wait for the next two weeks to go to earth?", Harry asked with a slightly angry tone in his voice. The senior officers were sitting around their big table. Everyone had come at time, or at least almost everyone. Vorik, who was the temporally chief engineer, came almost five minutes too late and murmured an excuse and something about important business in the engine room. The others smiled respectively showed any emotion, and then they began with the meeting. There was only one point on the list after everybody said that his or her station was operating at peak efficiency. All were astonished after hearing about the quarantine. "It's not like any of us would be sick and infective.", Tom remarked. "Starfleet just wants to be secure about us.", the captain replied. Everybody sighed a little. It would be two very long and boring weeks.


	2. Chapter 2

Janeway was really bored. After having a horrible dinner at the casino (the plasma gratin tasted as bad as it sounded like), she went up to her quarters and just laid on her bed after taking off her uniform. She was waiting for Chakotay to come and tell her how his talks with Seven went. Suddenly she had the need to do something else than waiting. Janeway got up and sat in front of her computer.

"Show me today's news.", she said. A video appeared and after a few seconds the news reporter began to speak. Kathryn couldn't believe what she saw.

" _Today the well-known Voyager crew came home for the first time in seven years. San Fran's streets were full of curious people who wanted to have a short look at their heroes. The crew members are now luckily reunited with their families."_

Janeway saw herself waving her hand to a cheering crowd. After that, the screen turned black. Kathryn didn't notice because she was kneeling in front of her toilet. Seconds later, she felt better and laid back on her bed. Her thoughts came fast. What was this all about? Was the other Kathryn a time traveler? Other dimensions? She couldn't believe neither.

About ten minutes later, she fell asleep. It had been a long day.

OOO

"Hey my dear, wake up." Janeway almost jumped out of her bed. Chakotay was standing in the middle of the room. Sometimes she regretted giving him her door code."Looks like you overslept.", he said, smiling about her reaction. Kathryn ignored him and walked to the bathroom to get rid of the bad feeling in her stomach.

"Are you alright?", he asked as she left herself of the ground. Chakotay was staring at her like Kathryn had changed into a green alien with antennas. "I think I just caught the flu, nothing more.", was the reply. "You should see the Doctor.", Chakotay said, looking concerned. "Kitty, you know exactly how I hate seeing the Doctor if he doesn't hold the daily report in his hands." Kitty was the name she gave him when nobody watched and no video surveillance was made. Chakotay hug her because he didn't want to kiss her what was really reasonable. "You just have to go, my little swan." That's how he called her. Janeway sighed. "Yes you're probably right. I'll go this afternoon."


	3. Chapter 3

Kathryn and Chakotay were heading towards the bridge. After Chakotay started a fruitless discussion about that Kathryn would be unfit for duty and should stay in bed, they changed to another thing.

"How did it go yesterday? Did you have any troubles? I thought you would come to me afterwards?", Kathryn said to her commander. "Well, I really don't know. At least she didn't start to cry." After a moment, he said: "Is she even able to cry?" The captain just answered with a shrug.

They finally reached the bridge. "Good morning, Captain.", Kim said as they left the turbolift. "Commander." He hushed away with a face expression that said clearly that it wasn't a good morning after all.

The captain turned to the tactical station just to be stunned. Tuvok was wearing a blue everyday tunic and some slightly other colored pants. "Casual Friday?" ,she asked. Tuvok bowed his eyebrow and said: "Captain, may I inform you about that it is Tuesday today?" "Just forget it.", she said. "But where in heaven is your uniform?" "It seems like my uniforms, both normal and the one for special occasions, disappeared from my closet." "You could just wear your surrogate uniform." "I could indeed, if it wouldn't have been disappeared from the laundry."Janeway made an expression which was between "I'm sorry for you" and "unfortunately I can't help you".

"Oh no.", Harry said loudly hearable. "What's it?", everybody in the room asked in the same second. "Our comm link to earth broke down last night.", he replied to nobody special. "So no more letters or news until you've fixed that.", Paris said with a sigh from his pilot seat without even turning around. It was a bad day for everybody "Why wasn't that perceived last night?", Janeway asked. "I changed the duties. There's only one person on the bridge at night."Chakotay replied from his seat. "Well then, Mr. Kim, please solve the problem with the comm link. It has highest priority. I'll be in my ready room." After these words Janeway added: "Commander, please come with me."

OOO

"Did you see yesterday's news?", Kathryn asked. In one hand she hold a cup of coffee, with the other she signalized Chakotay to sit on the seat witch was opposite to the one she was already sitting in. "No.", he said. "I was too busy handling Seven. What was it about?" "It was about that our crew got to earth. I saw myself, and you and actually everybody else too." Are you sure you weren't dreaming? As I went up to your quarters, you were already fallen asleep." Kathryn looked sad and said in the end: "No. At the moment I'm not sure of anything at all.

 **Now you read the third chapter. What do you think of it? Let me know, I'm open for suggestions.**


	4. Chapter 4

_Captain's log, stardate 54976.5: Ensign Kim is trying to repair the broken link to earth for almost four hours now. Still no proceedings. It looks like we have a little prankster on board. Twenty-eight uniform are missing, but we are hoping to get them back soon._

 _OOO_

"Alright Harry, did you find the reason why the links isn't working?", the captain said while walking in his direction. Seven, who came to the bridge to help Harry to find a solution, stared at her in a very angry way. Everybody tried to ignore it, either because they couldn't explain why she was looking angry or because they felt guilty about it. "It looks like the system is ignoring our existence. Every time I try to reconnect us, I get ejected. There is an automatic message popping up every time I try it. Look." Janeway took a short look on the comm-station's screen. It said:

" _Your ship isn't registered for the Federation of the United Planets. Please leave orbit. For registration, please ask your embassy for help."_

The message was repeating in other strange letters. "There isn't a terran embassy on earth, I assume.", Kathryn said after she finished reading. "Even if there would be an embassy, we had no way to contact them.", Harry responded bitterly. "Beaming?", she asked. "The transporter is still out of order", Harry told her. "We could take a shuttle to Starfleet headquarters.", Seven proposed. "It would be recognized as a threat when an unregistered ship or even a shuttle is heading towards earth. But if we plan our course correctly, we can land the Flyer on the moon and then transfer to Starfleet.", Janeway said. "I'll work on it.", Seven said, apparently glad to leave the bridge. After a few minutes, Kathryn followed her.

OOO

"Computer, please activate the EMH." "Please name the kind your emergency.", the Doctor said, after appearing out of nothing. "It's not really an emergency.", Kathryn said, while the Doctor turned to her. "Captain, you are here and, at least it looks like, voluntarily." "Well I don't think it is such a big sensation. I feel a little sick today, maybe you could have a look at me?" "Sure, please lay down." He was pointing at a medical bed. She laid on it. After a few seconds of scanning, the Doctor said: "You're not sick at all. You're…"

In this moment, B'Elanna came in. In one arm, she was holding Miral, her daughter. "Doctor, you wanted to have a look her. Our appointment was at thirteen hundred, and that's now." She was very surprised about seeing the captain laying on one of the medical beds. To ease the situation, the Doctor said: "I recommend you to stay in bed for one or two days, but you won't do for sure so I just give you this." The Hypo made a sound as he used it. "Wait, take the report I already made." Janeway took the padd without even looking at it as she went out. At the door, she turned to B'Elanna. "Have a nice day.", she said, then the doors closed behind her. Now she had a look at the padd. It was definitely not the daily report from sickbay. The sound of the padd hitting the ground seemed very loud to her.


	5. Chapter 5

"A child?", Chakotay asked, not believing in his own words. "Yes", Kathryn said. They were both standing in Chakotay's quarters and staring at the padd the captain got from the doctor. It showed a picture which was made out of a tricorder scan. It clearly showed a human fetus. Under it, the doctor had written: _"For questions, please visit me at twenty hundred in sickbay. D."_ After the first shock, both were happy about what they saw. "What do we now?", Kathryn asked. "Leave Starfleet, before anybody else knows. I'm not really in to four years of prison." The penalties for an affair with the captain were severe. "And what do we do instead?" "The University of San Fran asked me to be a history professor. I think I'm going to accept." Kathryn smiled and said: "I'll find something else too. I could ask one of San Fran's technology companies for work." After these sentences they started to kiss while lying on the nearby couch.

OOO

The Doctor was cleaning up sickbay as the door went open. He turned to his visitors. "Captain, Commander, please come in.", he spoke to them. "I suppose you're here because of, well…" He was pointing at Kathryn's belly. Both nodded. The Doctor walked over to a console, opened it and took a cable out of its port. "Video-surveillance is off.", he claimed. "I had no time for a full scan of the fetus. Shall I do it now?" "Yes, please.", the captain said.

"I'm afraid.", Kathryn said while the doctor was in his bureau to assess the data. "What are you afraid of? My only hope is that our child doesn't have the gene which makes you crazy.", Chakotay answered, quite distracted. "I didn't even think of that! No, I was only afraid of having the responsibility for a baby." Chakotay smiled and told her: "You're in charge for 134 people. And you think you can't do the same for a child? And, besides, I'll take care of it too." After a little time of silence, Janeway nodded. "You're probably right." The Doctor suddenly stood in front of them. "You'll have a healthy child.", he stated. "And it doesn't have the gene you were speaking of." A gasp of relief was heard. "How do you…?" "I'm sorry. I couldn't help but listening." "It's alright Doctor. Can you tell us something else?" "It's rather small for its six weeks but that isn't a thread." "What is it?", Chakotay asked prying. "A girl." The doctor was smiling at the captain, the captain smiled at her commander who was returning the smile to her.

As they went out, the Doctor said: "And captain, you better stop drinking so much coffee." "Yes, I will, I will.", Kathryn replied reluctantly.

OOO

Vorik looked at a console. He decided to call the captain although it was late. He just had to tell her what he was seeing. He send the nearest ensign to get her. The communication system was not the only thing which seemed to be broken.


	6. Chapter 6

The captain ran to the engine room. She wondered herself about how dark it were. "Emergency energy, that doesn't look good.", she said to herself. After waking her up, the ensign had run into another direction. Chakotay had the night shift. Janeway yawned. One hundred wasn't a good time to get up.

Finally, she arrived at her destination. The doors to the engine room opened with an unhealthy sound which meant no good. The engine room was one big mess. Everywhere were tools lying on the floor and people were running from one console to another. Vorik was standing in the middle of everything and gave orders to no one special. As Janeway went in, he turned around and screamed over the noise. "I think it's a virus on our main computer. We can't control scanners, the engines, the weapon system and the live support.", he exclaimed. "Did you do something against it?", the captain asked, now standing at his side. "The computer controls are offline too. We're trying to get them online again, but without success.",Vorik replied, now quieter than before. "Can we sound red alert?" "Negative." "We will have a meeting about this in about half-an–hour. I'll get the other senior officers." As she turned to go, she added: "And a coffee would be nice too."

OOO

Janeway was on her way to the bridge. She had made a stop at the casino, only to find out that the replicators weren't working either. She sighed and just pretended to have some caffeine.

The bridge was all dark. "Kitty, are you in here?", she asked into darkness in front of her. No response. Suddenly she felt very lonely. After a few seconds of loneliness a thought appeared in her mind which made her courageous again. It was quite simple: She wasn't lonely and wouldn't been for the next few months. Holding a hand on her belly, she went on searching for the next weapons locker. It held torches too.

The bridge looked creepy in the torchlight. The captain had taken a phaser too, just in case. She was shocked when she saw Chakotay lying on the ground. She was relieved as she saw that he was breathing. "Kitty, do you her me?", she asked softly. He didn't answer, since he was obviously unconscious.

Kathryn started to think deeply. He was too heavy for her to carry, but she couldn't leave him there. She suddenly thought of something.

OOO

Kathryn walked through the dark and empty corridors. She was dragging a tablecloth behind her. Chakotay was lying on it, still unconscious. She had taken the tablecloth from the table in her ready room. It was a little bit small, but that didn't matter. She suddenly heard footsteps but couldn't tell from where. Janeway was really terrified. Her torchlight fell on somebody, and both made a gasp of relief.


	7. Chapter 7

„Do you need some help?", Tuvok asked obviously glad to meet somebody. "What happened to him?", he asked as he throw Chakotay over one shoulder. Janeway was impressed. "W-what are you doing here?", she asked as they walked down the hallway. "I woke up because the ventilation system stopped. I went out of my quarters and found everything dark. I thought immediately of a technical breakdown. I didn't meet anybody since I started searching." "How long are you searching by now?", Kathryn asked. "One point three hours.", was the response. "We should bring him to sickbay." Tuvok pointed at his back, where Chakotay was swinging from one side to another.

They were standing in front of the closed doors of a turbolift. "It was still working when I used it to go to the bridge.", Janeway remarked. "Looks like we have to use the Jeffries tubes." "We need a rope.", Tuvok said.

OOO

It was hard work to rappel a still unconscious man through a vertical tube. First Tuvok climbed to the level they needed to go, then Janeway throw a big cable to him, which was hanging over a rung. One end of the cable was slung around Chakotay's hips. They had done this thing the third time, when Tuvok asked for a little rest. He sat down and cleaned his bloody hands on his tunic. "We should leave him here.", Kathryn said, not very happy about it. "That would be unwise." "Why?" "It is a logical conclusion that, since I walked over five decks while not meeting anyone, many of the other crewmembers are unconscious like the commander. The Doctor could find the reason when he has somebody to study. We may not find another unconscious crewmember on the way to sickbay." "You're probably right.", the captain replied.

They were more or less shocked when they opened a door in a horizontal tube. Noemi Wildman was trembling and looking very terrified as she pressed herself to the wall. "Hey Noemi, why are you here?", Kathryn asked and hugged her softly. Noemi began to cry as she saw the commander lying between Kathryn and Tuvok. "He's like my mom.", she said and pointed at him. "He will be alright, like your mother will.", Kathryn told her in a soothing way. "Come with us, we are heading to sickbay", Tuvok chimed in. They proceeded to crawl through that tunnel; Noemi was still crying a little bit when the three of them reached the end. The captain opened the door which conducted to the hallway. Red gas streamed in. She closed the door again with a scream. "That's why I went into this tube.", Noemi remarked. "We will take the door which leads directly to sickbay."

After about ten minutes they opened a second door. The sickbay was running on emergency energy. The Doctor turned to them when they left the tube. "Why aren't you using the big door?", he asked. "Toxic gas.", the captain replied. "Please have a look at him.", she added.

The Doctor had found the reason for the problem in record time. After examining Chakotay, he came up with an idea. "Maybe it's the vaccination.", he said and began to scan the air with his tricorder. "As I thought.", he told them when he was finished. "What is it?", Tuvok asked. "Well, I think it was an error to inject the crew with the vaccine I got from Starfleet." "It was your duty.", Tuvok stated. "Moment, I was neither informed nor vaccinated!", the captain declared. "I have informed you, but I think you haven't read my report." "You mean it was unfortunately changed with something else?" She smiled, Tuvok and Noemi were looking confused. "For the same reason I didn't vaccinate you." Tuvok showed a very unvulcan expression of perplexity, but he didn't say something. "And what does the vaccine have to do with the air?", the captain asked the Doctor. "I'll show you.", he replied.


	8. Chapter 8

They were standing in front of a console and the Doctor showed them a picture of a molecule structure. "This is what I gave to the crewmembers.", he declared. "And that's a Neon atom." He showed them another picture. "When you combine them, you'll get this." The screen showed a third picture. "That's C-45, isn't it?", the captain asked. "A strong tranquillizer, used by Starfleet. ", the Doctor added. "You think Starfleet did this?", Tuvok questioned. "The Neon was probably set free because of the computer failure. It looks very much like Starfleet is trying to kill us." A long silence emerged. Suddenly Noemi started to cry. "Is there a way we can wake up at least a few crewmen?", Janeway asked the Doctor, while trying to soothe Noemi. "If they don't breathe our contaminated air for some minutes, they will wake up on their own and the vaccine will be decomposed. I will try it on Chakotay." "Try?!", the captain uttered. "I'm sorry, I meant do." "Then come on, why are you still standing here, you damn hologram?"

OOO

Kathryn suddenly felt very angry, and she didn't even know why. She took a deep breath. Probably she just had a bad day. "Night would fit much better", she thought before everything went dark around her. She had something like a dream. She was walking through a ship's hallway, but everything and everybody was blurred and shadow-like. She entered a door, not really sure of where she was going to, and found herself in the casino. Many people were standing there and had drinks in their hands. It looked like a party. She walked through the crowd, but nobody looked like one of her crewmembers, although they were all wearing uniforms. Suddenly Neelix was standing in front of her. He smiled and she felt how she sometimes really missed him. "Neelix, oh Neelix, where am I?", she asked him, whispering. He almost screamed over the noise the crowd was making. "Nice to have you here, captain. Coffee?" He held a cup out to her. "Oh, I shouldn't…" "Come on, it won't harm your daughter if you drink one cup." "How do you…?", she asked, but Neelix was already gone. Only the cup in her hands remained. Some music played, than something which sounded like a fanfare. The casino lost its shapes and got much wider than before.

"People!", a loud voice said. It got immediately silent. "We're here to discuss a matter of high importance. In the last years we were terrorized by a certain organization, which is treading us like slaves. But I tell you: We're no slaves, we are people. People who live, who have emotions, people who want to be free! We won't live under our present conditions. We want the right to go where we wish to go. We want the right to feel what we want to feel! So I ask you: Will we fight for our rights?" "Yes, yes, we will!", the crowd shouted. Kathryn had a feeling like she were hovering. Then the crowd disappeared into nothing.

OOO

"Little swan, are you alright?" Kathryn saw Chakotay bowing over her. "Kitty, you are awake?", Kathryn asked weakly. "Yes, the Doctor repaired me." He smiled oddly and said:" You better remain lying for a while." "What happened to me?" "I think the Doctor said something about hormones and stuff, but I wasn't spending much attention to him." "Where are the others?" "The others? There isn't anybody else than us." He was right.


	9. Chapter 9

"Where are Tuvok and Noemi?", Kathryn asked distracted. "They were beamed away.", the Doctor said. He was standing in a corner of Kathryn's bed. Kathryn and Chakotay had a rather shocked glance at him. "I couldn't do something to stop it.", the Doctor added. "We got to go to the Starfleet headquarters. I think we'll find them there.", Kathryn stated. "And why?" Chakotay seemed very confused. "Let me explain."

After Janeway explained why she thought that Starfleet was responsible for their situation, Chakotay asked: "And why do you think that they want us to be dead?" "Quite easy, Kitty. We pose a threat to them. We have Borg technology on board. Maybe they think were just copies of ourselves. We may have an alien sickness. There are a million reasons why they don't want us on earth." "Sounds logical. What about this reportage you seen?" ""The guys who made it through the delta quadrant" is a good publicity for Starfleet." "Holograms?", Chakotay asked. "Probably." "Let's go and visit our employer. That should be interesting."

OOO

Kathryn and Chakotay crawled through the Jeffries tubes. They were heading to the shuttle area, and planned to get the Delta Flyer. Before they had left, the captain had assigned the commando to the Doctor. He instantly made his way to the bridge. After all, he was a dutiful hologram. Their crawling was often interrupted by both of them lying on the ground and gasping for air. It had gotten much warmer than before, now it was at least 330 Kelvin. "The life support is falling out.", the captain remarked. "I think it will be better in the Flyer." Finally they reached their destination. Fresh air flocked into their lungs. "Harry has already programmed a course to the moon.", Chakotay said after taking a seat in the pilots chair. "Well then, we have no time to lose.", Kathryn said who was now sitting next to him. A soft hum resonated and the Delta Flyer left the hangar.

OOO

Everything on the screen was dark, except of the little dots which were stars. Then the moon came into sight. It gleamed like silver. The few moon cities shined in a yellow light. "Wow", was the only word which the captain and the commander could exchange for some moments. It naturally wasn't the first time they had seen the moon from space, but today it seemed particularly beautiful to them.

The shuttle flew near the moon's ground, in order to be out of sensor range. A light appeared on the horizon. The light evolved to a city which was built under several domes. "Moon city four." Chakotay commented the scenery with a smile. An automatic tractor beam caught the shuttle and dragged it into the city's port. The Flyer made a scratchy sound when it set down to the floor. "Uh, that sounded unhealthy. They really need to recalibrate this tractor beam!", Kathryn exclaimed. She got ready to leave the shuttle, but Chakotay restrained her. "Maybe we should get into something less…conspicuous." He pointed at their uniforms. "You're right, we definitively should."

 **Thanks for reading this far! Please leave a review. (I know that grammar isn't my strong suit, but I'm working on it.) I'm looking forward to your opinions.**


	10. Chapter 10

Bustling activity filled the main street under one of the bigger domes. The street was crowded with people of many species and from many planets. Some ferengis tried to sell something at a corner, but seemly not very successful. All the houses along the street had a shop. Almost everything a person can imagine could be bought there. Glowing advertising signs were everywhere.

Neither Kathryn nor Chakotay knew where they were or where the public transporter was. Both were wearing pants and shirts in the same color, Chakotay green and Kathryn blue. They had read it would be the latest style, but it didn't prove to be taken seriously. Nobody was wearing something like them.

They reached the end of the road and suddenly stood on a big square. A big sign hung on the wall of a concurrent big building. It read: _Public Transporters of moon city 4._ "Finally.", Kathryn remarked. "It's cooler than I thought." They entered the building through a glass door. Everything on the inside was clean and white. A transporter engineer sat on a chair in a corner and ate lunch. His orange overall was full of blue coolant stains. He looked up from his sandwich. "Oh, I'm sorry. We got a minor problem with the transporter.", he said to them with his mouth full of his sandwich. He restored the sandwich into his pocket and stood up. "Please wait a few minutes and I'll fix that.", he said while pointing on two chairs. "Have a seat." He disappeared into a corridor. "A strange guy.", Chakotay said to Kathryn after they sat down. Kathryn wasn't listening. She just stared at a screen on the wall, which was showing news shows. Chakotay looked at it too. He could instantly hear the sound. It was a so-called "Intelligent Screen", which recognized if someone was paying attention at it. Most people don't know what it is like to watch a talk show in which they are one of the interviewed people. But most people can imagine. It must be strange, especially when you can't remember being in a talk show. That's exactly the feeling our protagonists had, when they were watching the screen. Kathryn grabbed Chakotay's hand unwitting.

" _And how did you get this great idea to auction your uniforms for a good cause, Miss Janeway?" "Oh, that was easy. I just didn't know what to do with mine." She giggled_. _"Starfleet asked me if I want to support their charity organization. I said yes and suggested to auction some uniforms." "May I thank you for this revealing conversation, Miss Janeway. Too sad our time is over. I think we will see you today again at fifteen-hundred, am I right?" "Yes, I'll be promoted to admiral."_

OOO

Chakotay wandered through the strangely empty corridor while searching for Kathryn. She had left the waiting area with some words between: "I would never auction my clothing." and "I feel sick." He found her when she left the ladies' room. Her face still had an unhealthy color. "Is it because of our little secret or because of what happened before?" He embraced her softly. "Both.", was the response. "Do you want to attempt your promotion?", Chakotay asked. "Sure. That will be fun." Kathryn smiled with anticipation. "Let's see if this guy has repaired the transporters by now.

OOO

He indeed had and about ten minutes later they were standing in front of the Starfleet headquarters. "It's nice and odd at the same time to be here again.", Chakotay remarked. "C'mon, you sentimentalist, let's go in."


	11. Chapter 11

They didn't take the main entrance. Too many journalists blocked it. They took one of the lesser frequented side entrances instead. Behind the door, a security officer wanted to see their identity cards. He watched the fascinating and constantly changing colored ground until he looked up to take their cards. His face went immediately red and he began to stutter. "Oh, I'm sorry Captain. In your case it won't be necessary." He studied Chakotay's card very careful instead. Chakotay glimpsed nervously at Kathryn. It was almost a release as the officer said something. "Your card is expired since 2367. That was ten years ago." Janeway interrupted him before he could do or say something else. "He was very busy the last time and had no time to get a new card." She smiled apologetically. "If you had the goodness to let us through, we have an important meeting in five minutes." The young officer almost jumped aside. "Yes, yes, of course. I'm really sorry."Janeway walked, smiling and dragging Chakotay behind her, into one of the corridors. The guard didn't know that it was the prison wing.

"Tuvok, where are you?", Kathryn asked herself while looking on a chart hanging on the wall. "Why are you so sure he is here?" Chakotay stood behind her back. "Trust me, he is." And after a few moments, she added: "I found him. He's in cell number 126. Noemi is with him." They began to walk down the hallway. Both had a phaser hanging from their hips. All the prison personnel had taken a thirty minutes break without asking any questions. Sometimes it is very useful to be famous. "124, 125…Here it is. Kitty, please open the door." Chakotay tipped in the code which he had read on the chart. "Door opens.", a computer voice said and the door swung away. Tuvok seemed glad when he appeared in the frame. "Captain, Commander. I'm glad to meet you." He turned into the cell's direction. "Noemi, wake up." He shook her softly. She instantly woke up and jumped from the bench she had been sleeping on.

All four of them walked down the corridor, heading towards the promotion hall. "Do you have a plan?", asked Tuvok. "I thought we just walk in there and say hello. I want to see their faces when they realize that we found out." Janeway giggled. "It won't work if we just show up. Starfleet will simply arrest us for disturbance of the peace." Tuvok said and turned to her. "We could call the planet security." Three adults stared surprised at the little girl. "Noemi, you're a genius.", Kathryn declared. She got back to the tone she used to give orders. "Lieutenant, you and Noemi search a comm station and inform the planet security. Commander, we will go to the promotion hall and make a little trouble." "Captain, I've got a problem. What should I tell planet security if they ask what the others are? We don't know for sure whether they are holograms or not." "Just tell them we know they're holograms. Facts may help to convince the PS that we really need them." After that, the four split in pairs and went on in separate directions.

OOO

"You should be familiar with the fact that Volcans can't lie. I cannot understand why you do not believe me." "Sir, what you told me is just ridiculous. That's why I don't believe you. Have a nice day." The screen went black and Tuvok sighed inwardly. He looked over to Noemi who sat quite bored in a chair. The chair looked as cheap as the whole furnishing. They were in the bureau of a lower administrator who apparently was taking his lunch break or wanted to watch the promotion. It didn't matter. He or she had gone and left the door unlocked. Tuvok had taken this chance, went in and used the computer to call PS. Now he stared at the ground and thought intently. He had the suspicion that he knew somebody from PS. He had once been at a conference where he met a PS officer who had held a presentation. After that, they got into a discussion about how safe DNA tests were. After this day he would sometimes write him letters about new methods and Tuvok wrote back. They got something like distant friends. He ordered the computer to call somebody named Peter Smith. An image appeared on the screen. A middle-aged man stared confused at him. "Mr. Tuvok, is it you? We haven't seen for years! I heard something about you and the delta quadrant, but I didn't spend much attention to it." Tuvok stopped his flood of words. "Mr. Smith, you apparently haven't perceive that I have been declared dead for six years." A silence arose. "Well, you're still bad at greeting someone." The other laughed at his own joke. "Mr. Smith, there is a matter whereby I need your help." For a few minutes you could only hear Tuvok explaining his problem and Smith listening to him. He spoke of his crewmembers back on the ship, on which the life support was breaking down and especially about the biggest scandal in space craft history. Smith nodded occasionally. "I will see what I can do.", Smith said in the end.

OOO

People were screaming terrified when a second Janeway in all blue clothing entered the promotion hall. She stood on the stairs which led down to the podium. The room was built like an auditorium and had big windows over the seat rows. The spectators entered the hall through two doors which were beside the enormous windows. A platform connected them. "I am the real Kathryn Janeway! This one is just a copy of mine!" She pointed at the podium. Chakotay, who was standing behind Janeway, wondered himself if he was really seeing Commander Data between the crowd. If he was, then he was looking very baffled, at least for an android. Meanwhile Janeway had reached the podium. She searched for holographic emitters. She saw one and fired with the phaser which she still had. The other Janeway began to flicker and stopped moving. Kathryn turned herself to the crowd. "You see, copies can fail, but…" That was everything she could say before the hall was entered by the planet security.

OOO

"So, what do we do now, my little swan?" Chakotay asked Kathryn. They were standing in front of the Starfleet headquarters, between some PS vehicles. The sun was near sunset. "What about searching a flat and, uhm, marry?" "Next stop Vegas?" "Yes, why not?" Then they kissed.


	12. Epilogue

Kathryn followed the sound of crying to her daughter's cradle. "Hatama, my dear, there's no need to cry. I'm here. Are you hungry? You look hungry indeed." She sat on a nearby couch and started to nurse her. Her thoughts began to wander while she watched the sun go down. She thought about how she liked her daughter's name (It was originally an idea of Chakotay, meaning something similar to "Flying between the stars"). She thought about how she liked her life like it was now. Life was good. "I'm home.", Chakotay shouted after he closed the door to their flat. 'I'm home too.' , Kathryn thought.

 **The end.**

 **Thank you for reading!**


End file.
